CSIR-NEERI Biodiversity Portal

Paper flower

Bougainvillea glabra

Botanical name	: Bougainvillea glabra
Common Name	: Paper flower /Lesser Bougainvillea
Family	: Nyctaginaceae
About	: It is an evergreen, climbing, thorny, woody, vines growing anywhere .1-12 meters tall, scrambling over other plants with their hooked thorns .The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4-13 cm long and 2-6 cm broad, dark green. Actual flower of the plant are tiny, generally white, each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six colorful (Pink,Purple) papery bracts, hence the name paperflower. They tend to flower all year round in equatorial regions. Elsewhere, they are seasonal, with bloom cycles typically four to six weeks. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene. Bougainvilleas can be easily grown as a hedge, an arch or a tree on the ground and in pots. Bougainvilleas available in a variety of species, is ideal for bonsai. Native to South America From Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina, But now cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world. It is heat and drought tolerant.